Old Reprobate rambles on about mech mods...

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Falconeer

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We discussed, had a bit of an argument, exchanged banter, opinions, information and at times even took the mickey out of the exchanges, the other day when we were talking about the Dreaded Mech Mods … which actually got me thinking about why I actually like the things as much as I do.


I suppose for me anyway, in part it comes from all the years of smoking pipes which you had to work with to get a good smoke, keep them in trim and looking good. Many’s the time of a Saturday morning when I had all of mine out for cleaning, reaming, polishing etc, my wife would say to me - “You know, I really don’t know what you’d find do with yourself if you ever stopped smoking the amount of time you spend spend fiddling and working with those things!”


Mech mods especially if used with dripping atomisers certainly do keep me busy a bit, the same way. The things do need checking over, cleaning and yes, polishing and the atomisers need their screws checked, posts cleaned, and refitted with new coils and wicks. coils need to be made, checked, burned tuned etc.


As with a pipe where you had to be aware of how the tobacco in it was burning, how much of it was left, did the load need its packing in the bowl loosened or tamping down, with a mech you develop a sense of how much charge is left in the battery or whether it needs charging or if it’s coming to the end of its useful life, and of course with a Dripper you have to become aware of whether or not it needs topping up to avoid the evil dry hits or at the other extreme is it in danger of flooding. Of course Squonkers keep you also similarly occupied. In a way you almost develop a relationship with the things.


So summarising so far, the things keep both with my hands and my head occupied and present a challenge to get the best out of them.


Moving on, for me there is a tactile pleasure to the feel of a solid well made device and a pleasure in contemplating the thing - again as pipe smokers enjoy handling and admiring the grain and mountings of a high end pipe.


I do also collect watches, and I like the look and feel of a good mechanical one and its heft on the wrist as as others do on watch collecting forums and we also value them as things of beauty to be enjoyed for that as well as for their practical properties ( and we know that a £5.00 Casio Quartz will keep better time than any mechanical, incuding a Rolex) - looking at high end mech mods, to my mind there are some beautiful high end mods about - and they aren’t as expensive as high end watches!


Being just about 69, as my wife reminds me, “We can’t take it with us, so it does no harm now to spend a little on things we really want” … and as ever she is right there. I’ve been looking at some high end mods of late and have decided to splash out and buy one good one a year.


The Old Reprobate has rambled on enough!


Attached are some pix from the web of what I think are beauties for you to love or hate, depending on your viewpoint.

mech 1.jpg mech 2.jpg mech 3.jpg mech 4.jpg mech 5.jpg
 
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charlie1465

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So summarising so far, the things keep both with my hand and with my head occupied and present a challenge to get the best out of them.

Moving on, for me there is a tactile pleasure to the feel of a solid well made device and a pleasure in contemplating the thing - again as pipe smokers enjoy handling and admiring the grain and mountings of a high end pipe.

I completely agree....there is a large aesthetics component to the love/use of the mech which is more to do with the depth of emotion we can bring to static objects. Mech's both speak to the collector in me and my love of simple engineering.

I think also that some of these components to the mech/vaping gear were originally super efficient therapy as we stopped smoking and fought that addiction. We transferred focus on to other things which became habitual after a while.

Nice post @Falconeer it's nice to explore these kind of mechanism's :)
 

Walee

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We discussed, had a bit of an argument, exchanged banter, opinions, information and at times even took the mickey out of the exchanges, the other day when we were talking about the Dreaded Mech Mods … which actually got me thinking about why I actually like the things as much as I do.


I suppose for me anyway, in part it comes from all the years of smoking pipes which you had to work with to get a good smoke, keep them in trim and looking good. Many’s the time of a Saturday morning when I had all of mine out for cleaning, reaming, polishing etc, my wife would say to me - “You know, I really don’t know what you’d find do with yourself if you ever stopped smoking the amount of time you spend spend fiddling and working with those things!”


Mech mods especially if used with dripping atomisers certainly do keep me busy a bit, the same way. The things do need checking over, cleaning and yes, polishing and the atomisers need their screws checked, posts cleaned, and refitted with new coils and wicks. Coils need to be made, checked, burned tuned etc.


As with a pipe where you had to be aware of how the tobacco in it was burning, how much of it was left, did the load need its packing in the bowl loosened or tamping down, with a mech you develop a sense of how much charge is left in the battery or whether it needs charging or if it’s coming to the end of its useful life, and of course with a Dripper you have to become aware of whether or not it needs topping up to avoid the evil dry hits or at the other extreme is it in danger of flooding. Of course Squonkers keep you also similarly occupied. In a way you almost develop a relationship with the things.


So summarising so far, the things keep both with my hand and with my head occupied and present a challenge to get the best out of them.


Moving on, for me there is a tactile pleasure to the feel of a solid well made device and a pleasure in contemplating the thing - again as pipe smokers enjoy handling and admiring the grain and mountings of a high end pipe.


I do also collect watches, and I like the look and feel of a good mechanical one and its heft on the wrist as as others do on watch collecting forums and we also value them as things of beauty to be enjoyed for that as well as for their practical properties - looking at high end mech mods, to my mind there are some beautiful high end mods about - and they aren’t as expensive as high end watches!


Being just about 69, as my wife reminds me, “We can’t take it with us, so it does no harm now to spend a little on things we really want” … and as ever she is right there. I’ve been looking at some high end mods of late and have decided to splash out and buy one good one a year.


The Old Reprobate has rambled on enough!


Attached are some pix from the web of what I think are beauties for you to love or hate, depending on your viewpoint.

View attachment 806785 View attachment 806787 View attachment 806789 View attachment 806791 View attachment 806793

Really great to read your appreciation for the devices. There is something about a tube mech and a dripper that has a lot of alure for me. I have to admit I won't spend the money for a high end mech, in fact my favorite is a $20 nemesis clone by Hcigar, lol. Regardless, it is always a pleasure to clean it up and fire it up in the evening. Very nice.
 

stols001

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I feel the same way. If a mech user is a keeper of hamsters or gerbils I don't like him. I give women a pass though.

You won't find any gerbils and hamsters near me, I believe them to be horrible animals. Whenever I hear about one being "extracted" in an ER, I'm like "That's not a crime against hamsters or gerbils, although it may be a crime against humanity."

I cannot remotely understand the thinking involved in doing that anyway. Whenever *I* see one I'm far more likely to back away slowly than grab a cardboard tube and try to.... I better stop.

Anna
 

Skeebo

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You won't find any gerbils and hamsters near me, I believe them to be horrible animals. Whenever I hear about one being "extracted" in an ER, I'm like "That's not a crime against hamsters or gerbils, although it may be a crime against humanity."

My hatred for hamsters comes from a pet I had at 9 years old. He was a monster who would escape from his habitrail every night for 3 years. I had to use my father's welding gloves to catch him because he had 4 inch fangs. Okay, they weren't really 4 inches, but they felt like it. He also had dreads, what the hell? He hated everything, but especially me. I'll never forget the joy I felt that morning he wasn't moving.

R.I.H. Squeak!
 

jandrew

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Apr 2, 2013
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Not mine, but a collection of photos of mechs that I have admired over the years.

hqdefault.jpg
Caravela
I've a few tube mechs, but they got little use as I never cared much for the ergonomics of bottom buttons --- something I know I'd get over quickly if a Caravela ever fell into my hands.
 

englishmick

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Sep 25, 2014
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We discussed, had a bit of an argument, exchanged banter, opinions, information and at times even took the mickey out of the exchanges, the other day when we were talking about the Dreaded Mech Mods … which actually got me thinking about why I actually like the things as much as I do.


I suppose for me anyway, in part it comes from all the years of smoking pipes which you had to work with to get a good smoke, keep them in trim and looking good. Many’s the time of a Saturday morning when I had all of mine out for cleaning, reaming, polishing etc, my wife would say to me - “You know, I really don’t know what you’d find do with yourself if you ever stopped smoking the amount of time you spend spend fiddling and working with those things!”


Mech mods especially if used with dripping atomisers certainly do keep me busy a bit, the same way. The things do need checking over, cleaning and yes, polishing and the atomisers need their screws checked, posts cleaned, and refitted with new coils and wicks. Coils need to be made, checked, burned tuned etc.


As with a pipe where you had to be aware of how the tobacco in it was burning, how much of it was left, did the load need its packing in the bowl loosened or tamping down, with a mech you develop a sense of how much charge is left in the battery or whether it needs charging or if it’s coming to the end of its useful life, and of course with a Dripper you have to become aware of whether or not it needs topping up to avoid the evil dry hits or at the other extreme is it in danger of flooding. Of course Squonkers keep you also similarly occupied. In a way you almost develop a relationship with the things.


So summarising so far, the things keep both with my hand and with my head occupied and present a challenge to get the best out of them.


Moving on, for me there is a tactile pleasure to the feel of a solid well made device and a pleasure in contemplating the thing - again as pipe smokers enjoy handling and admiring the grain and mountings of a high end pipe.


I do also collect watches, and I like the look and feel of a good mechanical one and its heft on the wrist as as others do on watch collecting forums and we also value them as things of beauty to be enjoyed for that as well as for their practical properties - looking at high end mech mods, to my mind there are some beautiful high end mods about - and they aren’t as expensive as high end watches!


Being just about 69, as my wife reminds me, “We can’t take it with us, so it does no harm now to spend a little on things we really want” … and as ever she is right there. I’ve been looking at some high end mods of late and have decided to splash out and buy one good one a year.


The Old Reprobate has rambled on enough!


Attached are some pix from the web of what I think are beauties for you to love or hate, depending on your viewpoint.

View attachment 806785 View attachment 806787 View attachment 806789 View attachment 806791 View attachment 806793

I never really got it. But after reading this post it started to make sense.

cheers
 

Falconeer

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Nov 27, 2015
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Dunoon, West of Scotland.
Really great to read your appreciation for the devices. There is something about a tube mech and a dripper that has a lot of alure for me. I have to admit I won't spend the money for a high end mech, in fact my favorite is a $20 nemesis clone by Hcigar, lol. Regardless, it is always a pleasure to clean it up and fire it up in the evening. Very nice.

I see your point - a this stage I have 2 Squonkers, a Pico Squeeze and a plastic "Terminator" thing I bought some years ago and which one reviewer went on YouTube and basically indicated if you even looked at the thing you'd be dead.

I paid a tenner ( £10.00 = the price of 3 - 4 pints of lager, or less than the price of a 50 gram pack of pipe tobacco, or indeed less than the price of 1 packet of unfitered cigarettes) for it ... and that included a spare bottle, and attie which wasn't up to much which howver did work and four premade coils.

It's never failed me and is indeed the one I have brought with me to Spain as I know it survives drops onto hard floors ( it has a rubberised finish ) and has never leaked unless I oversquonked it.... the mech however was cheap - the original Origen Little attie wasn't - but three years on it delivers and running on its original O rings it still closes with that distinctive and satisfying click.

Basically it got brought because it just works, is simple and if it fails I can do a work round to rewire it ( I did a HAM Radio course some years ago at evening classes which involved building circuits ).

I won't mention how much I paid for a custom built squonker in aluminium and another in wood when they were rare at the same time as both have failed since and long since have been consigned to Vape Heaven,
 

Falconeer

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It’s amazing the direction threads can go at times...

These things happen - Billy Clamp in the Trinity Bar maybe or maybe not refers - see the post we played on on Sunday.

I'm too dim or aged to get it ( thankfully maybe)!
 
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CMD-Ky

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Mrs CMD compares sharpening knives and messing with mods to knitting, it seems to calm me as I strive to get that edge, coil or wick just right. When I was fully employed and had a lot of responsibility, I could lose myself in either activity and return refreshed.
 

Falconeer

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Dunoon, West of Scotland.
Mrs CMD compares sharpening knives and messing with mods to knitting, it seems to calm me as I strive to get that edge, coil or wick just right. When I was fully employed and had a lot of responsibility, I could lose myself in either activity and return refreshed.

I so truly agree; I was a Specialist Area Manager once upon a time ... working with my pipes, playing my guitar, building touring bikes, and scale modelling ( superdetailing and scatch building )were my releases ... we didn't have vaping mods coils etc then - I just wish we had.
 
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